The stock market sank slightly on Friday, with all three major market benchmarks giving up a small amount of ground from Thursday’s close. Slow GDP growth got the bulk of the blame from Wall Street, but it’s also common for market participants to take some money off the table going into the weekend after a strong week.
Meanwhile, earnings season continued to play out, and although the technology industry saw some extremely encouraging reports, not all stocks participated in the rally. Athenahealth (NASDAQ:ATHN), Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF), and Time (NYSE:TIME) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we’ll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.
Athenahealth gets a little sick
Shares of Athenahealth plunged 20% after the company reported discouraging results in its first-quarter financial report. The provider of cloud-based medical records said that sales were up 11% from the year-ago quarter, but the company posted a net loss, and even after adjusting for extraordinary items, Athenahealth saw its bottom line give up ground from the first quarter of 2016. Yet even though management remains optimistic about long-term business prospects for the company, CFO Karl Stubelis noted that sales were below expectations, and Athenahealth chose to revise its full-year outlook for both revenue and earnings downward. With investors having gotten used to lightning-fast growth from the medical records provider, Athenahealth will have to find ways to speed back up if it wants to satisfy its shareholders going forward.
Top Medical Stocks To Invest In 2018: Southern Company (The)(SO)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.MONEYSHOW.COM]
Southern Company (SO) produces 44,000 megawatts of generating capacity and 1,500 billion cubic feet of combined natural gas consumption and throughput volume.
- [By Dustin Parrett]
Natural gas just claimed another victory over clean coal, as Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) announced on June 28 it’s converting its failed $7.1 billion clean coal power plant into a natural gas-fired facility.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
For those that are looking to express a more downbeat market view, or looking for a source of funds, we can neutralize our positive S&P 500 outlook and aim to sell stocks that are at risk to underperform on a relative basis. While a rising tide lifts all boats in absolute terms, we found that mega-cap safety is the central theme linking stocks that are at, or nearing, decade-long relative lows vs. the S&P 500: General Electric, Southern (SO), Simon Property Group (SPG), Verizon Communications (VZ), Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil. We see such relative weakness as a sign of vulnerability in their trend.
Top Medical Stocks To Invest In 2018: Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc(AUPH)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin] Related NVCN 18 Biggest Mid-Day Losers For Wednesday Legal Overhangs Keep Ladenburg Neutral On Neovasc Despite Positive Tiara Clinical Data Boston Scientific closes Neovasc transaction (Seeking Alpha)
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Neovasc Inc (US) (NASDAQ: NVCN) rose 17.3 percent to $2.65 in pre-market trading after the company reported the close of its $75 million transaction with Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX).
aTyr Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: LIFE) shares rose 12.3 percent to $4.10 in pre-market trading after the company disclosed 'promising' signals in myopathies with Resolaris in exploratory trials.
Globus Maritime Ltd (NASDAQ: GLBS) shares rose 10.1 percent to $6.90 in pre-market trading after climbing 5.03 percent on Monday.
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: AUPH) shares rose 9.9 percent to $3.00 in pre-market trading. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals appointed Lorin Jeffry “Jeff” Randall to its board and Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (NASDAQ: ORIG) shares rose 8.7 percent to $2.89 in pre-market trading after surging 19.82 percent on Monday.
Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLL) shares rose 5.1 percent to $2.08 in pre-market trading after declining 1.98 percent on Monday.
Seadrill Ltd (NYSE: SDRL) rose 5.1 percent to $4.13 in pre-market trading after surging 3.15 percent on Monday.
Noble Corporation (NYSE: NE) rose 5.1 percent to $7.60 in pre-market trading after declining 5.37 percent on Monday.
Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ: ABUS) rose 5.1 percent to $3.10 in pre-market trading. Arbutus issued additional data from its ARB-1467 Phase II - [By Todd Campbell]
After positive mid-stage trial data suggested earlier this year that it might be able to reshape the treatment of kidney failure in lupus patients, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH)has announced plans for a late-stage study that could eventually allow it to win regulatory OKs in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: AUPH) shares shot up 24 percent to $4.60 after the company disclosed that Voclosporin met 48-week remission endpoints.
Top Medical Stocks To Invest In 2018: Helen of Troy Limited(HELE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Teresa Rivas]
Helen of Troy (HELE) is trading lower Friday, after reporting a mixed first quarter.
The personal care products company said it earned $1.27 a share on revenue that rose 0.8% to $347.9 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $356.1 million. Gross profit margin increased 2.3 percentage points to 43.8%, while cash flow from operations climbed from $37.8 million in the year ago period to $41.7 million.
For the full year, Helen of Troy expects to earn between $5.85 to $6.35 a share on revenue of $1.57 billion to $1.62 billion. Analysts are modeling for earnings of $6.12 a share on revenue of $1.6 billion. However the company also warned that it expects a decline in sales for its nutritional supplement division.
Jefferies Trevor Young reiterated a Buy rating and $114 price target on the stock today:
Despite the 1Q revenue miss and ~30bps (~$4m) expected incremental FX headwinds, management maintained its FY revenue and adjusted EPS guidance (GAAP EPS came down $0.23 on the high and low end due to $6.6m of after tax non-cash asset impairment and patent litigation charges). Embedded in this guidance is the assumption of beauty coming in at the low end of the previous -7% to -12% range, and nutritional declining MSD (vs. flat to LSD positive growth previously). We believe this implies that housewares (MSD positive growth guidance previously) and health & home (LSD positive growth previously) would have to perform incrementally better than prior expectations, which we view as a positive.
The shares are down 3.3% to $99.31 in recent trading.
